Over the past 20 years, Sandnessjøen Engineering has established a strong and experienced team, which supplies engineering and project management services to the oil and gas and construction industries in the area. The company is located in the Petro Næringshage in Sandnessjøen, Norway, a central key location for services to several oil and gas fields in the Norwegian Sea.

"We are pleased that this team now becomes part of Aker Solutions and our rapidly growing engineering network. With the acquisition, Aker Solutions gains a firm foothold in the region, and we hope to grow," says Tore Sjursen, head of maintenance, modifications and operations in Aker Solutions.

"Our ambition is to double the company's workforce from the current 24 over the next couple of years. The pace of growth will of course depend on our success in the market and our ability to recruit first-class team members, but generally our markets are strong," says Tore Sjursen.

In December 2011 Aker Solutions announced the establishment of a new Tromsø office. Sandnessjøen Engineering will work closely with this office as well as Aker Solutions' other engineering hubs throughout Norway. The company becomes part of a global engineering and competence network which has foothold in more than 30 countries and a workforce of over 18 500 people.

Aker Solutions in Sandnessjøen will continue to be headed up by Halvard Lie, who has been managing director for Sandnessjøen Engineering. The business will still be based at its current premises in Sandnessjøen. "We have had a good dialogue with Aker Solutions and we believe will see many positive effects by becoming part of such a large oilfield products, systems and services company. We believe Aker Solutions will offer better opportunities for growth than we would have been able to achieve as an independent company," says Halvard Lie. Aker Solutions is acquiring the legal entity Sandnessjøen Engineering AS, whose owners are Alsten Management AS, Maritime Venture AS and Rana Skipsaksjeselskap AS. The transaction is expected to be completed in a couple of weeks. Transaction value is undisclosed. "Although we did not have any plans of selling the company we believe Aker Solutions will be a better home for Sandnessjøen Engineering," says Brynjar Forbergskog, chairman of the board of the majority owner company Maritime Ventures AS.